The Ghost and the Guardian of Halkeginia
by ViceN53
Summary: Three years have past since Saito left to his home world with his wife, Louise. A peace treaty has formed a united nation but a new crime gets loose and the rulers have difficulties trying to stop these corrupted crime sprees from effecting the people. They tried to contact Saito and Louise, but they get a visit from an unknown organization who call themselves Fourth Echelon.
1. Prologue: Unknown Airship

It has been three years since the married heroes, Saito and Louise, left Halkeginia to live in the other world where Saito was first summon from. During those three years, the rulers of the countries have formed a united nation where Queen Henrietta and Queen Tabitha, also know as Queen Charolette created a peace treaty with the Elves. Once the treaty was formed, the humans and elves began to understand each other more. Some of them were positive and some were negative. No matter the flaws, it was still the same to everyone. They see the married couple as a symbol of peace, despite the fact that they have left Halkeginia to live a peaceful life back at Saito's home world in a country he calls Japan.

Even if the countries have united, that still doesn't take away the fact that the Halkeginia is safe. There are still petty thievery and drunken brawls to deal with, plus they have gangs forming corrupted businesses hidden from the government's awareness. Not even magic could reveal their evil plots. But once the people sent their complaints to the rulers, the guards began their investigation of the crimes. Many houses of rich folks have been robbed, even the Tristanian Academy of Magic has been robbed. All the robbery was for either information or for rich goods. One of the academy members said that her best necklace had been stolen.

It's not just the thievery that's been going about in Halkeginia. There's also murder of individuals taking place and deadly messages sent to the people. There had also been murder of children and their corpses being sent to their parents. The murders usually took place at night, whether at home or out in the streets. Not even locked doors could keep people safe.

The situation gets even more dangerous when the combination of the two comes together, especially with the use of magic. Heavy Guard Duty was authorized. All the locals are to have a personally security guard to watch over their homes over night. No matter, even the guards are robbed of their goods or killed. They needed to find a way to deal with the situation before the people would form an uproar or these businesses would overthrow their government.

It was time to call for help and Saito's home world should be the perfect place to start. Headmaster Osmond and Professor Jean Colbert did their research on how to make an eclipse in order to travel into Saito's home world to contact the married couple. Their research eventually became a success. They cast a magic spell that would create a fake moon over the sun. To make sure that the experiment would work, they sent a bird to fly into the moon to get to the other world. Nothing had been heard from the bird since but they did saw the bird disappear the way the iron dragon did when its comrade was left behind to be discovered by Saito.

When the bird came back, Osmond and Colbert decided that it was time to explore Saito's home world and contact him. But as Colbert takes off in his ship along with his students. But before they can approach the portal, another ship arrives. It looked similar to the ship that Saito used to fight the dragon that could have destroyed all of Halkeginia. Only this time, the ship looked much larger. Colbert assumed that Saito might be piloting the plane. He hails the crew but he doesn't receive an answer. All he sees is the ship flying away from his. Saito would greet Colbert back if he was the pilot so something didn't seem right. He will have to inform Henrietta and Tabitha about the unknown aircraft. Whatever is in that ship or whoever is in that ship, none of them could be Louise or Saito. Hopefully, they could be the key to saving Halkeginia from this murderous crisis.


	2. Mercenary

Professor Colbert gave word to Osmond about the discovery of the flying figure. It took the shape of some sort iron dragon or bird. Queen Henrietta and Queen Tabitha happened to have see the figure as well but it disappeared into the clouds after flying over their cities. The fleet have attempted to track down the air craft but it was very hidden in the air despite the size which would normally make it easier to see.

It would be difficult for them to continue looking for the figure all because of dealing with the crime sprees taking place. Civilians and Guards were reported killed or robbed. Some of women were even violated of their privacy. They even found the bodies of the ones who didn't make it alive. The situation was getting worse than they thought. People were already setting up posts for strikes at the government. If the people and the mysterious crime spree both take down the governments then all of Halkeginia would go into chaos or corrupted by whoever takes over. Not even Saito and Louise would settle the issue despite their capabilities. Halkeginia really needed help from the other world. Particularly the disappearing flying figure.

In an afternoon at Queen Henrietta's Castle, Agnes, Captain of the Musketeers of Tristain was walking down the halls to check on the queen to see if she was alright. They became very concerned about the security of the castle. There's a chance that the intruders would sneak through the halls and rob or kill the queen.

Agnes stumbled upon something on the floor. A drop of blood. It was laying on a door next to her. She opens the door. On the other side, there was blood all over the door and it had a dent on it. A dent that a knife can make. She saw drops of blood and followed the path. It led her to a corpse. The corpse was one of the musketeers'. Shocked at the moved dead female figure, she rushes to the queen and informs her of the dead musketeer. Guards were sent to investigate.

"Was she here when you found her?" Henrietta asks.

Agnes answers, "Yes, but she was moved from where she was killed. Whoever killed her, they moved the body in a safe place. It's too bad that they had an amateur to do so. They left a dent on the door and made a bloody mess out of the corpse."

"Your Majesty!" a guard shouts. "There intruders in the castle!"

"Intruders?"

"Guard, what happen to your men?"

"We were all ambushed! All my men were killed. I barely made it out alive with a few wounds but I'll be fine. Right now, we need to get the queen to safety as soon as possible!"

"Alright. Your Majesty, come with me. I'll escort you out of the castle. Musketeers, guards, find the intruders and take them all out!"

"Understood!" the guards and musketeers said.

As Agnes and Henrietta run through the hall, they hear the guards getting wounded. They went through Henrietta's room through the window and down. As they tried to move as far away from the castle as possible, they were stopped.

Smoke bombs burst and spread all over the place. They couldn't see each other. Henrietta had to continue running while Agnes tried to follow. They got a bit distant and Agnes got in a fight with few of the assassins. Henrietta continues running but an assassin tangles Henrietta's feet, making her trip and lay vulnerably on the ground. As the smoke slightly clears, she could see the assassins.

The assassins wore dark and light armor along with masks that covered their entire face excpet for the eyes. This one was about to kill her. She lays helplessly as her death approaches. . .

But suddenly, she hears gun fire but it was rapid and unusual. It got very close. Then, out of the uncleared smoke came a heavy looking figure in a suit of armor. Just as the assassin was about to raise his blade and kill Henrietta, the heavy figure lifts the assassin, then quickly kneels down and slams the assassin's entire back onto his knee. The slam was so fatal that it killed the assassin instantly. Henrietta looked at the figure with a surprised expression on her face. The figure takes out his knife and cuts free the tangled feet. As Henrietta stood and the smoke finally clears, she gets a good look at the unknown figure.

He wore strange armor with strange color. He wore a helmet that covered his eyes with unusual glass. The weapons he carried looked like strange muskets. A red light shines next to his head.

"Are you alright, Ma'am?" the figure asks.

"Um. . . thank you, stranger. . . who are you?"

"Call me Argus. I'm a mercenary of Fourth Echelon, sent to rescue you. Come with me, Ma'am. I'll escort you to the evac sight."

Evac? Not a usual word that the people of Halkeginia would use. But if this mercenary is here to save Henrietta, then she should consider following. Agnes couldn't escort Henrietta since she's too busy fighting off the other assassins.


	3. Spy

Three days before the attack at the Tristain Castle, Tabitha, also known as Queen Charlotte of Gallia, has returned to Gallia to check on her mother in case any of the assassins or thieves intrude her in her sleep. It was night time and a dangerous time for people to be out alone at this hour. In fact, it's especially dangerous to be out at all in these dark hours.

Looking around at the damage, the buildings seem fine. But certain shops have missing goods and broken locks. Tabitha took a look inside a shop. It was already robbed and investigated. The shop keeper was at home. He's rumored to have a lot of locks placed. He is very concerned about his family's safety from the thieves and assassins. But he shouldn't worry any longer. He's already robbed enough to be poor. He's only getting his goods stolen. There is no need to kill him.

Speaking of kills, at night especially, the last corpse was found hanging on a hook. The person appeared to be a business man. Investigators say that the man was killed by being forced to be hanged on the hook. Assassins don't kill by lifting people onto hooks. They would make them fall into one or make the hook stab through their throats. In fact, an assassin would use a hook as a weapon. This man looks like he was killed by hired thugs.

Tabitha makes haste to return to the castle. Suddenly, a group of thugs appeared out of the dark, carrying blades or just using their bare hands. Tabitha prepares to use her ice magic like she always does during her adventures with Saito and the others. The thugs surround Tabitha and are about to kill her or rob her. Tabitha uses her ice magic. The ice spikes manage to pierce into the thug's flesh. But only manages to stick like a knife and to these thugs, a knife is just a minor wound. As they got closer, Tabitha kept using her ice spikes to fend them off but they were too resistant to the pain. These thugs seem unstoppable against her magic. They could be either enchanted with magic themselves or they are just use to being stabbed and frost bitten. By the looks of them only showing flesh and rags, it would have to take sharp steel or just solid steel to hurt these men, at least the pain should do better than ice spikes.

Tabitha looks around for ways to get away. She looked around for her familiar, Sylphid. She was last left at the castle to watch over Tabitha's mother. Sylphid should have been here by now.

Tabitha suddenly sees some sort of moving light on the roof. A green light. It was getting a closer. Once it got close enough, Tabitha takes a deeper look. It turns out the green light showed a figure in dark clothing. Tabitha could barely see the figure due to the shadows hiding him. It could be one of the assassins. She knew that it could mean the end of her.

But instead, she gets a different result. The figure moves behind one of the thugs and does a certain trick with his hands. The next thing Tabitha could see is the shadowy figure holding the thug in front of him with a knife. The shadow holds out a strange looking pistol painted in solid black. It looks like the shadow man was using the held thug like a captive.

"Not a word, not a sound," the shadowy figure said to the thug with a cold blooded voice. The figure fires his pistol at the other thugs. Each shot pierced through their heads killing them instantly. Whoever this figure was, he has a good aim and a very good weapon. The pistols that Agnes and the other musketeers would use would have them reload a bullet after each shot. This pistol could bring more shots at once.

As Tabitha sees the thugs drop on the floor, dead, the shadowy figure begins interrogating the thug.

"Are you going to bother this lady, again?" he asks.

"Who do you think you are?!" the thug growls as he chokes.

"I'm the one asking all the questions. Now who do you work for?"

"I will not answer to the likes of you!"

The shadow takes the thug to an old food stand and slams the thug's face, breaking the table apart. The thug's head gets slammed into the table three times then he gets pulled back by the shadow again.

"I'm going to ask once more. Who do you work for?"

"You think I answer to strangers like you?"

The shadow tortures the thug again. This time, he throws the thug on the floor and stomps on his chest. The thug is coughing but gets brought back up by the shadow.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get an answer from you."

"Wait! [cough] I don't know anything! The pain hurts!"

"We can do this all night if we have to."

Tabitha looked very shocked at how the figure could just force information out of a thug that seemed very intimidating. The thug is starting to gain that intimidated feeling by the torture. He looked like trembling down into fear.

"I want some answers, now! Who sent you?"

"I swear! I don't know anything!"

The shadow tortures the thug once more. This time the thug was pushed into the wall and was kicked on the crouch. Then the shadow kicks the thug's face back and aims his pistol directly at the thug's head.

"You gotta know something useful at least."

"Wait! I know something! We were sent by people hiring us to steal things and kill others. It's just their way of business, you know."

"Even businesses with where I come from?"

"How should I know? I'm just a hired thug looking to get paid! Ever since this crisis started, I've been looking forward to at least being the only person that's making a useful living at times like this! Please have mercy, strange shadow! I'm just doing this for the sake of health!"

The shadowy figure and the thug have a quick second of silence. Then the shadow says to the thug once more.

"I almost feel bad for that. . . almost. . ." The figure pulls the trigger and kills the thug, leaving the dead corpse to bleed on the wall.

Tabitha looked intimidated by the shadow. She stances her self to cast a spell on the shadow as he got close to her.

"It's alright, Chief," the shadow said. "I'm one of the good guys. I'm just here to rescue ya."

"You're one of the assassins," she said. "You must be behind all this."

"If I was, I wouldn't be wasting my time here with these thugs. A girl like you shouldn't be walking alone at this hour. I better take you home."

"I can't trust you yet."

"Then how about I introduce myself. I'm Archie. How about you?"

Tabitha paused for a moment then said to the figure, "Tabitha."

"Alright, so now that we know our names, how about I get you back home in one peace?"

"Who sent you?"

"All I can tell you is that I come from a place out of this world, whatever this world is. I'm just here looking for information without any civilian casualties. I can't even allow someone important like you to get killed in the process. Otherwise, my team would get blamed for it."

"Then you must be from that plane. If you don't work for the other assassins, then who do you really work for?"

"Keep this between you and me. . . I'm from Fourth Echelon. My boss said I should take a look around at this place, see if there's anyone I should talk to."

"I see. Then why don't we talk in the castle?"

"Fine with me. You must be one of the local authorities but you don't seem old enough to be fighting by yourself. That makes two of us."

Tabitha looked a little confused when he said that. Though, he does look as tall as Saito so it is possible that he could be as old as she is.

"So am I taking you back home or was this a set up for a blind date?"

Tabitha blushed a little bit when he said that. But she realizes that she needed to head back at her castle to check with her mother. This man looked and proved to be trust worthy so his company should be worth her time. She might have to introduce him to Syphid and the others once he gets her back to the castle. Whoever this man might be, there could be a better future for Halkeginia after this crisis has been dealt with. Maybe even for her. She'll have to wait and see.


	4. Fourth Echelon

Flying across the Atlantic Ocean and through the clouds above is the C-147B Paladin, the mobile HQ of the Fourth Echelon. Commanding the ship and the operations taking place is the famous Splinter Cell, Sam Fisher. Once served as a Splinter Cell for Third Echelon until many incidents and events took place. President Caldwell made Sam Fisher the ship's commander during the operations with the Blacklist. Sam worked along with his fellow members, including his long time ally Anna Grimsdottir, his fellow field operative Issac Briggs, his tech expert Charlie Cole, and his captive and useful asset Andriy Kobin. After years of commanding the team, Sam was getting closer to retirement. He plans on giving away his role as commander to Grim but is in need of another Splinter Cell to take field operations with Briggs.

Today was the day he was given some new recruits. Few were Splinter Cells and Mercenaries. He didn't find the mercenaries necessary unless they were sent to assault or distract enemies on the field. These are elite operatives and he was told by Caldwell that it was hard for any soldier around the world to kill these men. Sam was only looking for members. Not an army. But if this is what's necessary for the team, then Sam would have to accept.

Sam took a look at the recruits. The mercenaries were big and strong and the spies are quick and quiet. But none of them would be able to take on Sam, even if he was alone. He didn't think they would be trusted enough to command the team since he had a feeling that one of them would get killed which is a good reason why Grim should take the role and not another Splinter Cell.

Sam went across the Cargo Bay and notice two unusual recruits. These two seem slightly smaller or shorter than the rest of the recruits. They seem young, too. They seemed around their early twenties. The others were around their early thirties. One was a spy and the other was a mercenary.

"You two look a little young for elites," he said to them.

"Graduated early, sir," the mercenary said.

"That doesn't say a thing until you prove me otherwise."

"Understood, Sir."

"What's your name kid?"

The mercenary looked at Sam with a confused look. But then answered,

"Argus. . . sir?"

"Is that a code name or your real name?"

"My real name, Sir."

"Good enough." Sam turns to the young Splinter Cell standing across next to the Mercenary. "How about you? You seem to be interested in my kind of work."

"Archie, Sir," the young Splinter Cell said.

"Fitting."

"Uh. . . fitting, Sir?"

"Fitting until you get older. Sounds like a name for a teenager."

"Affirmative."

Sam walks back in front of the recruits and announces to them, "Alright. You men can join. Just make sure you do as I say or you're out of the plane. Is that clear?"

"Yes Sir!" they all respond.

Sam walks away back into the command room to talk with Grim.

"Grim, I didn't ask for eight men, I asked for two."

"It was the President's call, Sam. She needed more members to keep Fourth Echelon running."

"This plane doesn't have enough room for eight more men. Was this even necessary?"

"As far as I could tell. No other Splinter Cell is like you, Sam."

The Paladin has receives some sort of distress signal coming from the cold edges of Green Land. Sam signals the ship to head for that location and find the distress signal source. It was about time the ship had some action. Just in time to test these new recruits and see which one can take Sam's place once he retires.


End file.
